Washing-machine



NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAMUEL P. MECAY, OF KILBOURNE, OHIO.

WASHING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,087, dated January 5, 1858;

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL P. MECAY, f Kilbourne, in the county of Delaware and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved lashing-Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figures l and 2 are longitudinal vertical and central sections of my improvement, showing the two different positions of the working parts.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

This invention consists in the employment or use of an adjustable oscillating washboard and a reciprocating dash board placed within a suitable box and arranged and operated as will be presently shown and described, whereby a very eiiicient machine is obtained and one that may be made to operate equally well for the washing of either line or coarse clothes or light or heavy articles.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the case or box of the device, the side and end pieces of which are parallel with each other respectively, and the bottom of the device is formed of two inclined boards or planes (a) (o) so placed or ar ranged as to form a Vshaped concave, the boards or planes at their point of junction being somewhat rounded, as shown plainly at (c) in both gures.

To the board (a) of the bottom of the case or box a washboard B, is hinged or connected by a joint or journals (ax), ar-

ranged in any proper way so that said board may oscillate or work freely back and forth on said hinges or journals.

The wash board is attached to the board (a) near its junction with board (o) and the portion of board (a) between the lower end of the wash board B and the board (o) is corrugated as also is the face side of the washboard B, the corrugations running transversely with the board (a). The corrugations are formed by grooving the surfaces so as to obtain semicylindrical projections and depressions. The wash board B may be of straight form, that is, a plane, or, it may be made somewhat convex on its face side.

To the upper end of the wash board B, and at about its center one end of a rod C is attached. The opposite end of the rod C is bent in hook form and is attached to either of two or more pins (c') which are fitted in the upper end of a lever D which is placed on a rock shaft E, which has its bearings on the sides of the case or box A.

To the lower end of the lever D an arm F is attached at one end by a pivot (d). To the opposite end of this arm a dash board G is attached at right angles. This board, like the washboard B, extends the whole width of the case or box, and is corrugated longitudinally precisely similar to the wash board B.

The shaft E passes through the lever D nearer its upper than its lower end and a handle H is atached to the lever D. All the parts mentioned may be constructed of wood with the exception of rod C and even this may be constructed of a strong piece of wood if desired.

The case or box A is supplied with a requisite quantity of suds, indicated by the blue tint and the clothes (e) to be washed are placed between the wash board B and the dash board G.' The operator then grasps the lever or handle H, and works it up and down and the clothes (e) are pressed up against the wash board B the upper end of which is moved over toward the dash board G as the latter moves forward toward it. The clothes (e) by this operation are subjected to a certain degree of pressure and are also shoved upward owing to the inclination of the face sides of both boards B, G, and as the dash board G moves back from the board B the clothes will by their own gravity fall or descend and in so doing will naturally turn because as the wash board B, oscillates on its hinges or journals (ax) its upper end when the two boards B, G, are closed will be considerably inclined over or toward the board G and as the latter, owing to the greater distance of the connection of its arm F from the shaft E than the connection of the rod C, from said shaft moves back more rapidly than the upper end of the board B, the clothes are made t0 turn as they fall being thrown out of' a vertical line by the board B.

Thus it will be seen that as the boards B, G approach each other the clothes are compressed and shoved upward and as the boards separate the clothes fall and turn over and by this means are thoroughly cleansed.

When line or light clothes are washed the water buoys them up considerably and in order to render the device eilicient for the washing of all kinds of clothes, the washboard B is made adjustable, that is, for the washing of fine clothes the board B has its upper end brought nearer the board G so that the boards will work sutliciently near together to act with due pressure upon the clothes and prevent their too rapid upward movement consequent upon the buoyant power of the water. When coarse heavy clothes are washed the upper end of the board B is movedV or adjusted a greater distance from the board G as shown in red Fig. 1, for the weight of such clothes will counteract the buoyant'power of the water and serve to retard their upward movement and they will be subjected to the requisite pressure without having the boards work so near together as in the former case. The wash board is adjusted by placing the outer end of the rod C over either of the pins (c). This adjustability of the washboard is an important feature of the invention for it renders the machine suitable for Washing all kinds of clothes large or small coarse or ranged in a great variety of ways and I4 therefore do not claim separately .either of the parts herein shown, but,

Having thus described my invention,wha't I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is, Y A

The arrangement and combination, as herein shown, of a lever D, washboard B, arm F, and dash board G, so that by the movement of lever D, the board B, G, will simultaneously approach each other and act upon the clothes, each board doing its share of the work; and by a reverse movement of lever D, the boards B, G, will simultaneously separate and leave an open space for the admission or removal of the clothes.

WM. WILLIAMS. 

